1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a control apparatus for displaying an electronic program guide and to a control method for displaying an electronic program guide. More particularly, the invention relates to a control apparatus for displaying an electronic program guide and its control method in which a desired program can be selected from a plurality of programs speedily and positively.
2. Description of the Related Art
Systems for digitizing television signals and transmitting them via a satellite, such as a broadcast satellite or a communication satellite, and receiving them in households are coming into wide use. In such systems, for example, approximately 80 broadcast channels can be ensured, and accordingly, a large number of programs can be broadcast. For selecting a desired program from such a variety of programs, an electronic program guide (EPG) system has been suggested in which an EPG is transmitted from a transmitting end and is received in a receiving end to be displayed. A desired program can thus be selected positively by referring to this EPG.
In this known type of EPG system, however, a large number of programs are merely displayed in a matrix from which a desired program is selected. If it is desired that a predetermined program, for example, a particular sport program or a news program, be received, from programs currently being aired, it is difficult to speedily recognize which is a sport program or which is a news program. Thus, the known EPG system is still difficult to achieve the speedy selection of a desired program.